PhD vs. Professional Doctorates

The real distinction is in how the thesis is approached.

 

A very interesting paper about 'professional doctorates' as opposed to more traditional PhDs.

Paper

 

Good article. So, from the traditional research PhD we go to professional doctorate which is disciplined-based (engineering, medicine, psychiatry, psychology, etc.). In the USA, the number of disciplines has expanded to include business administration (DBA), public administration (DPA), etc, for professional docs. Now we have the advent of the work-based doctorate where candidates can negotiate and design their own curriculum based on what they do for a living. I can see the USA Ivory tower having a real good time with this one!

 

I work overseas; the PhD is preferred. However other doctorates are accepted. ACBSP counts other doctorates as being able to satisfy AQ status, provided any other required qualifiers are there.

 

ACBSP and AQ.. not sure as per AACSB regulations.

 

Yes, but even that varies by institution. Programs that only offer the DBA or EdD without a PhD often require dissertations that are indistinguishable from PhD dissertations. Where differences between the "theoretical" and "applied" dissertations exist are in program that offer both degrees. Even then, there is only one large study that compared PhD and EdD dissertations and they did not distinguish "applied" from "non-applied" dissertations. That would be an interesting area of study for someone to pursue.

 

The U.S. does, in fact embrace so-called "professional doctorates." The thousands of K-12, college and university faculty and administrators, and those outside of academia with non-PhD (and not first professional) doctorates shows a high level of acceptance. Now, the real answer to your question is that when it comes to "professional doctorates" that are research degrees (DBA, EdD, DPA, ThD, etc.) as opposed to first professional degrees (JD, MD, DDS, etc.), they were marketed as alternatives to the PhD, but were created as PhD clones. We should never have had the PhD in education and the EdD. Harvard's EdD was indistinguishable from a PhD in education. The same was true for its DBA. The perceived difference between the two degrees allowed some institutions to offer "PhD lite" degrees that devalued these degrees.

Outside the U.S. they embraced the idea of two different and complementary degrees and developed them as different from each other. This did not happen in the U.S. until recently, with the Ed.D. initiative headed up by Vanderbilt. Now, Vanderbilt's Ed.D. is very distinct from its Ph.D. in education, but the rest of the country has yet to catch up.

 

Dr. Piña - thank you. I could see the root of the problem now. The UK and elsewhere specifically state that their professional doctorates are different from research PhDs. "Professional Doctorates" are so-called because they really should be just "doctorate" degrees with a different focus and, or, purpose. The purpose may involve basic or applied research which in the end, doesn't matter, because they are not your traditional research PhD degrees . . . Just thinking out loud here. This is very interesting. Again, thank you.

 

Tony says this frequently, and I want to echo it. In the U.S., the typical difference between the Ph.D. in Education and the EdD is.....nothing.

In my Ph.D., I did a very practice-oriented study, hardly touching the theoretical basis for what I was doing. Now I'm working on something in the applied arena but I'm focused on the theoretical basis for it. Go figure.

 

It's kind of a funny term. What makes these first professional degrees "doctorates" at all? Because they're longer? One could say that they all require degrees prior to professional study. But then there are some professional degrees which are only at the post-graduate level but are classified as "mere" master's such as those in library science and occupational therapy.

First professional seems to mean to me professional degrees that are: 1) at the post-graduate level, and 2) 3-4 years in length rather than the 1-2 for the master's. Maybe they need some other term ("licentiate"?)

 

It is a bit "messy," as many of the first-professional degrees were formerly undergraduate degrees in the U.S.(e.g. L.L.B.-Bachelor of Law, B.Pharm-Bachelor of Pharmacy). In non-U.S. countries, first-professional degrees continue to be undergraduate degrees.

Although I am a bit of a "degree title nerd," I haven't looked much at that particular question, other than the fact that physicians (even those with a Bachelor of Medicine degree) have long been addressed as "doctor" and other health-related professions have followed suit. Many first-professional masters degrees (e.g. physical therapy) are being phased out in favor of the doctorate (since physicians, dentists, lawyers, etc. pursue a masters degree AFTER earning a first-professional degree). The M.Div. remains as one first-professional degree that continues to be a masters.

 

Weren't medical doctors (M.D.s) called "medics" at one time in history? It doesn't matter now, but the title "doctor" really belongs to academia and not the professional disciplines. The term itself means "teacher" in Latin. In Spanish, docente (teacher or instructor) is related to doctor.

 

Prior to the late 60s the first professional degree in theology was the BD.

 

Another point of interest: the Master's degree was equivalent to a PhD in the medieval University of Paris (12th century). The PhD, or doctorate, as some have mentioned in this forum, is a German invention that came much later after the medieval universties in Italy (Bologna), France (Paris), Spain (Palencia, Salamanca, Modena), and England (Oxford and Cambridge). When the PhD became the top academic degree, the Masters degree then became "in-between" the Bachelors and PhD. But the medieval academic title of "Master" were once held by scholars such as St. Thomas Aquinas.

 

And in the case of "upgrades" the degree time was extended to meet the "3-4 years at the post-graduate level" definition: i.e. the DPT is 3 years instead of 2, and also the 4-year Pharm.D. + at least 2 years of undergrad replaced the five-year bachelor's in pharmacy.

It will be interesting to see if other post-grad professions such as library science, occupational therapy and architecture are headed in this direction.

ETA: Just to correct from an earlier post, I mistakenly said people must have degrees prior to entry, this isn't true even they do have them in most cases.

 

Really? I thought you earned the bachelor's for finishing the trivium, the master's for finishing the quadrivium, and then there were doctorates in law, medicine, and theology.

 

Ted, you are correct. I think that was at a later time, however.

The title "doctor" wasn't used for the top intellects of the university; Master or Magister was used. Below I offer you a snippet from Wikipedia which seems to have some decent research.
Also, I came across this in my own research back when I did my MA in Theology.

Here's another reason I hope you'll find compelling: The degree system as we know it really came from the medieval guild system. The medieval universities incorporated these levels of acheivement and recognition. For example, an apprentice and journeyman worked under a "Master" builder or tradesman, and it took many years for a journeyman to be recognized as a Master tradesman. First, he had to build something spectacular, something other Masters had not seen or came across. This is somewhat equivalent to the PhD dissertation. Second, the guild had to allow the recognition. Again, somewhat similar to today's PhDs in B&M universities with their sometimes petty politics in the Ivory tower. Hence, we have the rough equivalents:

Apprentice - 2 year degree, Associates, or technical degree
JourneyMan - Bachelors degree
Master - Master or Doctorate

The PhD came about in the 19th century:

"This situation changed in the early 19th century through the educational reforms in Germany, most strongly embodied in the model of the Humboldt University. The arts faculty, which in Germany was labelled the faculty of philosophy, started demanding contributions to research, attested by a dissertation, for the award of their final degree, which was labelled Doctor of Philosophy (abbreviated as Ph.D.) - originally this was just the German equivalent of the Master of Arts degree. Whereas in the Middle Ages the arts faculty had a set curriculum, based upon the trivium and the quadrivium, by the 19th century it had come to house all the courses of study in subjects now commonly referred to as sciences and humanities.[5]"

See Wikipedia 2nd Article.
___
"Once a Master of Arts degree had been conferred, the student could leave the university or pursue further studies in one of the higher faculties, law, medicine, or theology, the last one being the most prestigious. Studies in the higher faculties could take up to twelve years for a master's degree or doctorate (initially the two were synonymous), though again a bachelor's and a licentiate's degree could be awarded along the way.[21] " Wikipedia

Reference for 21: O. Pedersen, The First Universities - Studium Generale and the Origins of University Education in Europe, Cambridge University Press, 1997

 

Oh yes, the licentiate in medieval times was roughly equivalent to today's Masters degree.

Apprentice - 2 year degree, Associates, or technical degree
JourneyMan - Bachelors degree
Licentiate - Modern Masters degree
Master - Master or Doctorate

 

When IPEDS reclassified its degree categorization, this re-definition of "first professional" was suggested:

"An award that requires postsecondary study of the basic
body of knowledge and skills required to function as an entry-level professional in certain fields specified for reporting purposes by the U.S. Department of Education. These awards require the completion of a program that meets all of the following criteria: completion of the program provides the academic prerequisites necessary for licensure in a recognized profession; the program requires at least 3 years of postbaccalaureate study; and the degree is awarded after a period of study such that the total registered time to degree, including both pre-professional and professional study, equals at least 6 full-time equivalent academic years."

Instead they dropped the category entirely and created "doctor's degree - professional practice" (as well as a "doctor's degree - research/scholarship").

 

Nice website. I also found this under Doctor's degree - Research/Scholarship:

"A Ph.D. or other doctor's degree that requires advanced work beyond the master's level, including the preparation and defense of a dissertation based on original research, or the planning and execution of an original project demonstrating substantial artistic or scholarly achievement. Some examples of this type of degree may include Ed.D., D.M.A., D.B.A., D.Sc., D.A., or D.M, and others, as designated by the awarding institution. "

For the Doctor's degree - professional practice:

"A doctor's degree that is conferred upon completion of a program providing the knowledge and skills for the recognition, credential, or license required for professional practice. The degree is awarded after a period of study such that the total time to the degree, including both pre-professional and professional preparation, equals at least six full-time equivalent academic years. Some of these degrees were formerly classified as first-professional and may include: Chiropractic (D.C. or D.C.M.); Dentistry (D.D.S. or D.M.D.); Law (L.L.B. or J.D.); Medicine (M.D.); Optometry (O.D.); Osteopathic Medicine (D.O); Pharmacy (Pharm.D.); Podiatry (D.P.M., Pod.D., D.P.); or, Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.), and others, as designated by the awarding institution."

So, according to this website, DBAs and DPAs are Doctor's degrees in the Research/Scholarship category. I guess they are not professional doctorates? This is all very confusing.